Cross Country Teams Seek Redemption At NCAA West Regional
11/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
SPOKANE, Wash. - Call it a chance for redemption. A chance once again to prove to others, and, more importantly, to themselves to being better than what they showed the last time out.
That's part of the drive that will accompany Gonzaga University's men's and women's cross country teams Saturday to the NCAA West Regional at Stanford University to be run on the Stanford Golf Course. The first race will be the men's 10K at 10 a.m. and will be followed by the women's 6K at 11:15 a.m. The top two teams in each race qualify automatically for the NCAA Championships, along with the top four individuals not on qualifying teams. In addition, teams around the country are competing for 13 at-large berths.
"We really didn't reach our goals for both men and women," Gonzaga head coach Pat Tyson said of the West Coast Conference Championships two weeks ago. "On the men's side we had a chance to get third and missed by 21 points. We got sixth. All the athletes, all the coaches were saddened by that. It wasn't frustration, it was like we are better than this; we do not want it to end like this. We had a summit and we called the athletic department and said this is what we want to do; the kids want to do this. They don't want to end on a sour note. We can do better, and that better is to ideally put ourselves in the top 15 for the men and women which would actually make you rated in the region"
The Bulldog women suffered a blow at the WCC Championship when Lindsey Drake suffered from hydration, going being in the lead pack of runners to falter in the final mile and finish an uncharacteristic 73rd. She collapsed at the finish line and had to be carried to the medical tent. Tyson said he almost pulled her from the race with a mile to go. As a result, the women went from what would have probably been a third place finish to a fifth-place finish. The women finished 23 points out of fourth and 42 points out of third. Emily Thomas finished ninth to earn All-WCC accolades.
Gonzaga is looking forward to the chance of getting another shot at some of their WCC competition as well as taking on the best from the Pacific-12 Conference.
"There are some teams that beat us in the WCC and we get another opportunity to take them on," Tyson said. "On the women's side we get an opportunity to have, hopefully, a healthy Lindsey Drake. When Lindsey is on, let's face it, she is either our top gun or our second gun."
But Tyson doesn't want his squad to put undue pressure on themselves.
"The expectations are to not put a lot of pressure on ourselves, but let's beat those WCC schools that beat us at conference and see how many Pac-12 runners we can knock off and can we knock some of those teams. Can we put ourselves in position to be in the top 15," Tyson asked.
There are 27 teams entered on the men's side, 34 on the women's side.
"It's a challenge, but we want that challenge, we honor that challenge and it is real exciting. Our women are going to line up right against Stanford. We talk about shadowing excellence, there is shadowing excellence. Our men are in between Portland and Washington. That's exciting. We have box 26, Portland has box 25, Washington has box 27 and Oregon is right near us in box 24. We are surrounded by excellence," Tyson said of the starting spots for Saturday.
But being sent to regionals is not a reward.
"Our goal isn't to go to regional and say isn't this a nice thing to do. It's not about that. It's to go down and not only come back on a happy note, but take that energy and realize everybody is back next year. You have to go to these venues and compete against these types of teams if you have any chance of climbing; the respectability in our sport and putting ourselves to be in position to be even an at-large berth to the NCAA down the road. That's what our goals are," Tyson said. "We realize the WCC is tougher than it has ever been in history. The times tell you that. This is the best timed men's and women's Gonzaga team in history. We are heading in the right direction. We need the regional experience. Next year the regionals are in the Northwest, the WCC is in the Northwest. It's a great recruiting tool to know Gonzaga has a jersey in the lineup."
That lineup will include juniors Tate Kelly and Patrick Richie; sophomores Nate Gesell, Willie Milam, Brent Felnagle and Robert Walgren, and freshman Nick Roche on the men's side. The women will be represented by Drake, a junior; sophomores Thomas, Krista Beyer, Emily Albrecht and Catherine Theobald, and freshmen Maggie Jones and Elizabeth Ryan.
Tyson said there were some tough decisions to make in picking the men's squad.
"The men were much tougher than the women (to select)," Tyson said. "How do you leave Andrew Walker, who's been our number one runner in a couple of races and on a given day may be our number one runner in regionals, home? How do you say no to him? You have to go with those guys that beat him. He had a rough conference meet. Unlike Lindsey who had a rough conference meet, Lindsey has been much more consistent than Walker if you look at the career. There's not as much high-end depth on the women. The men are all over the board, 15 deep. I hate to use no brainer, but it was a no brainer. There were some people lobbying to have Andrew go and I said no. I asked them if they wanted to give up their spot and let Andrew go. Patrick Richie was our next number seven and he deserves to go. Six and seven are so tight there was no doubt in our mind we had to pick the top seven finishers at WCC's who got it done that day."
Walker, a senior sidelined with injuries until the final two meets of the regular season, was the Bulldogs top runner in both of those meets. But he finished a disappointing 53rd in the WCC Championship.
Assistant coach Patty Ley said the women's team isn't as uptight this week as they were heading into the WCC Championship.
"I think in a lot of ways they are not as uptight as they were that week. You can read that as are they not taking it that seriously, but I don't see that at all. They have looked a lot sharper in their last couple of workouts then they did going into the WCC. I'm excited to see what they are going to do. It's going to be a different experience. Lindsey in particular has been at the front in all of her races. She can see the front as five or six ladies up there, but now she can be in the front of this and be in a pack of 30. It will be a very different experience. She's done a better job preparing this week and that's helped a lot. In a lot of ways she made it just too big last time and realizes she's done a good job and she needs to go do that again," Ley said.
Ley, in her first cross country season after joining the Bulldogs last spring, is "pretty pleased with where the ladies are. We have a couple that are a little sore, a couple with the sniffles, but that's just life right now. They'll get it done."
As with the men's selections, "there's kind of a tight pack from three through nine. But at the same time you go with the hot hand at the end of the year. Erin Bergmann is a little dinged up, so you make that choice. Hopefully, we're in the same position next year where the men are and it's a little tighter."
While the trip to regionals is foreign to this year's team, Ley doesn't want it to remain that way.
"It needs to become the expectation. You're always performing well enough to be at regionals, from here moving from being ideally a top 15 team to being a top 10 team and perennially always being there, being prepared to be knocking on that door to that NCAA berth at some point so you are always pushing the envelope; a lot of removing the mystique of all of that. Is this a huge deal in terms of experience? Yes, from what they can learn, but should this really be a big event in their life? Not really. This should be a start where they can go on to something better," Ley said.
Tyson said the Stanford course may suit the Bulldogs just fine, especially on the men's side.
"What's interesting on the men's side is this is a longer course. It's 10K. I don't think there's any team lining up Saturday that's run a 10K. Since the men don't have a top runner, to be honest with you all seven of our runners are more 10K orientated. This course is much flatter than Crystal Springs (site of the WCC Championship). It's a golf course. It's fast. It's the kind of course where people are going to go out. The top 50 guys are all going to run under five minute pace for six miles. It's a forgiving course," Tyson said.
"As Patty alluded to regarding Lindsey as always being in the top six and out front early, when you think about our men the WCC's were the first venue this year where you almost felt we're not up there in that top pack. Not that we were in the top pack against Washington State, but we were kind of close that first mile against the Cougs. This Saturday is about how many guys we can get in the top 100. This is about where can we put ourselves between 50 and 100. If you score 400 points you'll be in the top 15. That takes a lot of pressure off that you don't have to go out with the top guns. If you score 400 points you are going to beat a lot of good teams. From that standpoint I think it's a good course for Gonzaga."
And if the Bulldog men and women can do that, redemption will have probably been served.
